Christopher Martin-Jenkins, an English cricket broadcaster and writer who was a former president of the MCC, has died. He was 67.
The official website of Lord’s, the home of English cricket and the MCC, said on Tuesday that Martin-Jenkins died after a battle against cancer, which he was diagnosed with in January last year.
CMJ, as he was affectionately known, was widely respected in the world of cricket as an eloquent, opinionated and often eccentric commentator on “Test Match Special” on BBC radio. He was also a former cricket correspondent for British newspapers the Daily Telegraph and then the Times of London, and wrote many books about the sport.
Martin-Jenkins, who never played top-level cricket, was president of the MCC — the former governing body of English and world cricket. Getty Images
The England and Wales Cricket Board said Martin-Jenkins, who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2009, “was quite simply a cricketing institution.”
“Cricket has lost one of its greatest champions,” ECB chairman Giles Clarke said. “Christopher was a supremely talented broadcaster and writer; a fount of knowledge about cricket – both past and present.”
Martin-Jenkins, who never played top-level cricket, was president of the MCC — the former governing body of English and world cricket and now viewed as the traditional guardian of the game — in 2010 and ’11.
His death comes three days after former England captain Tony Greig, another famous broadcaster, died.
“Oh no.. So sad to hear about CMJ! Cricket loses another great man of the game..” England batsman Kevin Pietersen said on Twitter.
Ian Botham and England women’s captain Charlotte Edwards also tweeted tributes and condolences.
AP
